First published in  Lonely Goat Print Magazine Volume II - #11

The Raleigh Session - Leftover Salmon
by J.D. Edwards (December, 1999)

Fresh from their upstream swin into the mighty crosscurrents of mainstream country territory, Leftover Salmon has spawned their most comprehensive studio recording to date: The Nashville Sessions, uniting their many tributaries of influence into one strong flow. From blues (Taj Mahal, Reese Synans) to country (Waylon Jennings) to traditional bluegrass (Del and Ronnie McCoury) to "newgrass" (Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck) to modern rock (John Bell, Todd Park Mohr,) their third studio effort unites bluegrass music's storied past with its unlimited future.

Unfortunately Nashville Sessions is just as the title implies: landlocked, immobile, confined to ttime and place and impractical as a touring unit for such an obstinate road band. But these Colorado "high country" boys did the next best thing; they brought the music's most direct link to its rich past, The Del McCoury Band, on the road to open some shows, one of which landed them in Raleigh.

Seeming slightly groggy from a six hundred-mile bus trip from the IBMA awards in Louisville where they often sweep individual honors, DMB came out to the half full (not half-empty) musical dungeon known in name only as The Ritz. None the less enthusiastic though, they inspired the faithful with a page from bluegrass' fabled past. For the uninitiated musical troll who must live under a rock the size of Australia, the band combines high harmonies with clockwork musicianship and timeless songs for a sound often imitated but seldom duplicated. They even still employ the impractical single-mike setup as they weave between one another during solos, intuitively synchronized for personal space as well as solo space.

While many bluegrass ensembels consist of four or five separate individuals hopefully coming togehther musically, DMB functions as one aggregate organism with five complimentary component parts. There is a warmth and blend to their sound which comes from playing together for most of their lives; the band's core consists of father Del on guitar, his sons Ronnie and Rob on mandolin and banjo respectively. Their set lists read like an authentic chapter of American cultural history; from the gospel harmonies of "Get Down on your Knees and Pray" to the instrumental electricity of "Red Ticks on a Mad Dog" to the cheeky humor of "Nashville Cats," even their newest compositions sound as if they were created fifty years ago. And that is well before the evening's headlining members were even born.

Leftover Salmon came out for a few numbers to warm up the swelling crowd before inviting up Del, Ronnie and Jason from DMB as well as two-time Tellride flatpicking champion Larry Keel. The stage overflowed with talent as they burned through a semi-traditional set of old meets new. The most impressive thing about Del is how someone who stood beside Bill Monroe can still remain accessible and open enough to jam with the genre's bastard offspring or a renegade songwriter such as Steve Earle. He even gave his approval to bluegrass "phunsters" Phish for their recording of his classic "Beauty of my Dreams" before launching into a live source reference for anyone un familiar with the original.

Del remains remarkably grounded for one who is essentially a bluegrass god. When he is on stage, everone is kin as reinforced by the resonance of his new release: The Family, referring in one breath to the Mccourys but also in another to the entire community of bluegrass musicians. together these newfound siblings expanded on Drew's composition "Midnight Blues," an uptempo "Sittin on Top of the World," Bill Monroe's "Wheel Hoss" and the obscure "Ridin on the L&M" for a MerleFest-style super jam that comprised more than half of Salmon's first set. It was a rare opportunity to experience both bands in that context outside of Wilkesboro, especially since neither is slated for the spring festival lineup.

After a much-needed respite, Salmon returned for their trademark unconventional slamgrass set. They featured several new songs from Sessions, some old singalongs like "Stay Away Monday," "Hiway Song" and "Cherie" and their full blown jam section during "Doin My Time." The band didnt' have the head of steam they had two or three years ago as banjoist Mark Vann was sidelined for a while with illness and surgery, but he still fired off some speedy electric banjo as well as his signature steel drum Calypso flavorings.

Bassist Tye North and drummer Jeff Sipe have catapulted Salmon beyond a mere bluegrass quintet with their fat funky foundations. Multi-instrumentalist Drew Emmitt favored electric guitar over his more rootsy fiddle and mandolin, furthering their rock-n-roll exterior. He's also coming into his own style more as a guitarist, soloing more and adding more personal voice. And frontman Vince Hermann is still wacky and unpredictable, although he's developing more of that accessible bluegrass bandleader persona.

They encored with the elusive "Pasta on the Mountain," their tribute to underground horticulture, before the obligatory closer "Rise Up...Wake-n-Bake" tolok them off stage. But not before Sipe offered his seat to preteen drummer Nick Hughes for a duet with Tye who slowed and sped the tempo unpredictably, but the youngster kept pace admirably.

Together these bands solved the dilemma of how to reproduce a star-studded studio recording on the road; just get the best musicians from the sessions and invite them on tour with you. And credit the boys from Salmon for appreciating the importance of tradition and roots despite normally thumbing thier noses at bluegrass' strict boundaries. Now if I could just make it out for their "mile high millenium show" where they will explore "jazzgrass" and "newgrass" end of Sessions with Sam Bush, John Cowan, Peter Rowan and Tony Furtado.